Chapter 55
[ 484 words ]
Chapter 55:
How laughable.
At the hospital, the glaring fluorescent lights and the sharp smell of disinfectant made everything feel even harsher.
The on-call doctor gave me a swift once-over, stethoscope catching the beat of my heart and the rasp in my lungs. “It isn’t anything severe. Just shock, and you’ve inhaled a little water. We’ll admit you for observation.”
“Doctor.” I spoke up, my voice unsteady. “I’m pregnant. I just fell into freezing water. Will it harm the baby?”
The doctor’s face tightened at once. “Pregnant? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Come with me to the OB-GYN. We need to do a thorough examination.”
With the test order in my hand, I made my way outside.
Frank was standing by the entrance. “Lianne, are you alright?”
𝖬𝗼𝗿𝘦 𝗇𝗈𝘷e𝗅𝘀 o𝗻 𝗴а𝗹𝗻o𝗏𝖾𝗹𝗌.𝖼𝗈m
“You should go, Frank,” I said, forcing a frail smile. “This is a hospital, and people are always watching. You’re famous now. If someone snaps a picture of you taking me to the OB-GYN in the middle of the night, tomorrow’s headlines will be all about you. I don’t want to get you tangled up in this. Besides, I’ve already called my housekeeper.”
Frank lingered in silence for a while. In the end, yielding to my insistence, he told me to let him know after the examination was finished, then tugged his cap down and left in haste.
The entire examination dragged on like a torment. The icy ultrasound wand pressed to my lower belly, and the cold seemed to sink straight through me.
“The embryo is stable for the moment, but there are signs of a threatened miscarriage. With the added cold exposure, you’ll need to remain here overnight for monitoring,” the doctor said as she filled in my chart. “Where is your family? Someone has to come sign the documents and take care of the bill.”
Family?
I fixed my eyes on my phone screen. It was blank. No missed calls. No messages.
“He’s tied up. I can deal with it myself.” I took the paperwork, went to the billing counter, and covered the charges on my own.
Once I returned to the room, I phoned the housekeeper and asked her to bring me a fresh set of clothes, my toiletries, and a container of hot soup.
As I waited, I opened social media almost like I couldn’t stop myself.
The trending page hit me like a blade—Ethan and Ivy had left the banquet side by side.
I tapped it, and a series of sharp, high-definition GIFs flickered onto the screen.
In every frame, Ethan was sheltering Ivy with practiced care as he helped her into the car. She folded herself against him with effortless familiarity, and together they looked painfully flawless.
I kept my eyes on the looping images as they played again and again.
So while I was going under in that freezing water, crying out in panic for someone to save me, he was holding the woman he had loved first with all the tenderness in the world.
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